Bad day to try
by Lierene
Summary: Request! Before Malik lost his arm, he, Altair and Kadar go to visit a river. Altair doesn't want to, but goes along anyway, but what happens when he ends up in the water without them?  A bit OOC. Please no flames, this is my 1st time writing AC! ;


Quick A/N: I've never written AC stuff before, so don't be too harsh on me! I don't want any flames...;;

Also! Request by: Msmeow! 3

* * *

Altair growled mentally, squinting his eyes into a glare. Today was a very unpleasant day. Just plain and utterly horrible, appalling, and awful. Altair went through every synonym he could think of. Finally, giving up after only a few moments, he tossed a small pebble into the river in front of him. 'Stupid Malik and his stupid ideas…' Altair mentally cursed his friend, glaring across the river with avid envy towards Malik and his brother Kadar, sparring with some sticks they had found on the riverbed.

Today, it was Malik's turn to choose where and what they trained. Malik decided that swimming was a good skill to learn, so he dragged Kadar and Altair with him to the nearest river. Altair hmphed and pouted, sticking his lower lip out a little. If it was up to him, they'd have practiced and trained something far more entertaining and interesting, such as high diving off the buildings or sparring with newly made weapons instead of sticks. But no, he had to be "nice" for once and let Malik choose.

'They looked relatively happy over there, though.' Altair noted to himself, his jealousy growing with every laugh and cry he heard, and continued to toss small rocks aimlessly into the river, scowling a bit more. He wished he could go over to join them, really he did, but he just couldn't bring himself to get into the water. To put it plain and simple, he was afraid. Yes, one of the best Assassin's in the brotherhood was afraid. Afraid of something so seemingly petty and small: water. Not that he would ever admit it of course, he was far too proud for something like that.

They had been together at the river for a better part of the morning and most of the afternoon. After a half hour of Altair making excuses not to get into the water, Kadar gave up and pressed his brother to join him in the water, Malik left with him, though a little less unwilling to leave his friend behind to sit along the riverbank alone to watch.

Altair had been fine with them leaving at first, enjoying watching them splash and play around together, but then he began to grow more and more jealous of how much fun they were having. He could swim. Sure he could. He just…didn't want to, right? Right. Convincing himself that swimming was a lot easier then it looked (even if he had never done it before). All you did was flail your arms around and throw your legs around. He could do that, too. He's done things far harder anyway. 'Okay, That's it!' He made up his mind and began to climb the rocks above him.

He scaled the rocks rather quickly, settling himself on the edge, crouching low and looking cautiously towards the clear, deep water below. To his surprise neither Malik nor Kadar had noticed his sudden movements, still far too busy fighting. Somewhere in the back of his mind something was telling him that what he was about to do was a very very bad and dangerous thing. But since when had he ever listened to his conscience before? Hmm, not very often. Plus, his way of doing things was waaaay better anyway.

* * *

Malik was having a lot of fun, the most fun he'd had in a while. Sparring with his brother was not much of a challenge, but fun in the least. He was quite surprised that Altair had invited him to do something, let alone let him choose what they were doing.

Malik thought his behavior to be rather strange as of late. He seemed almost happier, a little more clumsy and a bit more talkative. At least, that was the rumor around the Brotherhood. Kadar poked fun and continuously said that maybe Altair had a little crush. Malik waved it off every time. How could such a great, seeming cold assassin have a crush? He seemed to be way above such petty useless things like that.

After a little while Kadar was starting to grow tired of their 'sword fighting' game. "Giving up so soon, brother?" Malik pressed tauntingly. He had been winning for the majority of the day, and Kadar was getting bored.

"Yes, let's head back now," Kadar said, regaining his breath. "I'm starting to get-"

Kadar was cut off by the sight of something hitting the water, with a rather ungraceful splash.. "What was that!" Kadar asked his brother, but Malik didn't respond. He just threw his head towards the other side of the river. Nothing. No one was there.

Malik didn't remember telling his body to do anything. It all just happened automatically. It was like he was on autopilot. Ignoring his brothers cries, he leapt into the water and swam towards the middle of the river. He could see small bubbles, it was almost like they were telling him where to go. He had reached the middle of the river when the bubbles began to stop and that's when Malik began to panic and swam as far down as he could.

Altair began to regret his decision almost as soon as he hit the water. It was quite a bit colder then it looked. He had tried to move his arms and kick his legs, like he saw Malik and Kadar do earlier that day, but it just didn't work.

He couldn't keep his head above the water. He gasped for one last breath of air before he went under completely, sinking fast. 'Maybe for future reference taking off all of the heavy clothes might be a good idea.' His brain noted. Frightened, he began to kick and thrash even more. 'I can't let myself die yet!' He head cried. 'Not yet!' and everything went black.

* * *

Malik was starting to get scared. He couldn't find him. 'No! This can't be happening! He can't die!' His brain was screaming for air, but he couldn't comply just yet, first he had to find Altair. There! He spotted him, his struggle to get up above the water was starting to slow, and came to a stop. He needed air now! Malik moved fast, getting a hold of Altair's robes and began to swim for the surface.

Kadar was waiting for the two, scared to death and anxiously hoping they were okay. Just then, Malik surfaced along with the younger assassin. Kadar immediately went into action, swimming up to them to help Altair out of the water. Who was currently limp in Malik's arms. Malik gasped for air and swam to shore after his brother.

Malik began to worry once he reached the shore, what exactly was Altair trying to do! He looked over towards the other two. Kada laid Altair across the rocks on the riverbed and Malik immediately checked for a pulse. Malik couldn't find one right away. His eyes began to prickle and his face contorted into grief and turning to his brother, who was also in shock. One of the most successful and greatest assassin's was dead.

Altair groaned and opened his eyes. He glanced around, taking in his surroundings. But, that was weird, he didn't remember taking a nap near the river. He sat up slowly, and looked around more carefully. He was on the other side of the river now. He blinked. "Did I swim across the river…?" He questioned out loud.

The sound of a familiar voice startled both brothers as they both turned and almost screamed. Altair looked at both of them, confused. Malik visibly relaxed and wrapped both arms around the younger assassin, smiling and tears still pouring down his face. Kadar just laughed. "So? Did I or not?" Altair questioned again. They were both very glad to see Altair was alive.

It was starting to get dark now, and the three decided they should get back soon. Kadar started ahead of them, leaving Altair and Malik alone to talk freely.

"Altair, would you mind answering a question of mine?" Asked Malik lazily playing with a leaf that landed near his foot.

"I guess not."

"You can't swim at all, can you?" The question was very blunt and to the point. Very like Malik.

"Of course I can…" Argued the assassin in question, fidgeting with a loose string on his robe.

"I am highly doubting that if you could swim, I would have had to save you." Malik's retort was very short. His eyes were very critical and scrutinizing, making it hard for Altair to lie. He had never told anyone his weakness. That the one thing such a prideful and highly skilled assassin was afraid of was water.

"I figured you didn't like swimming." Malik said. Altair's lack of response told him everything he needed to know.

"But I just have one more question for you…"

Altair finally looked up. "Yes?"

"Why did you jump? I know it wasn't a suicide. You are far too full of yourself to do such a thing…" Malik smiled.

Altair chuckled. "Your right…" He trailed off. "You want to know why I thought it was such a grand idea to jump into the water when I didn't know how to swim." asking the rhetorical question as he pulled the loose string off of his robe. "I did it because I was jealous." He said in a quiet voice, Malik had to strain to hear. "I did it because I wanted to join you guys. Plus, swimming didn't look that hard." He sounded almost like a hurt child, knowing that they had done something bad.

Malik gave a short but cute laugh. "If you were jealous you could have just asked for us, or called us to do something else. Honestly, I'm much happier doing something we all enjoy as opposed to something just one of us enjoys."

"So, that means no leap of fail?" Altair asked with puppy eyes, beggingly.

"No, I won't do it, sorry!"

"Please? What if I help you?"

"No!" Malik got up, ready to leave. He was done with this conversation.

"Fine, fine. Be cranky…" Altair pouted and stood up also, stretching his arms above his head.

Malik sighed and walked a bit closer to Altair and grabbed his left hand. "Maybe you can show me once we get you to swim without drowning." Malik smiled, placing a kiss on Altair's hand.

"Deal."Altair grinned and grasped Malik's hand and they began their journey back to the city.

* * *

A/N: Sorry it's so crappy and seems rushed I've never written AC stuff and...I'm super tired. I'll write more AC stuff, probably. Please Review? :DD


End file.
